Problem with Guest OS (XP Home)

[meterman70]

VMWare Fusion 6.0.2

Mac mini (early 2009), OS X 10.9, 4GB RAM

Guest: Windows XP Home Edition SP3

I'm having some problems with the Guest OS on my VMWare installation - wuauclt.exe (and its associated svchost.exe process) eventually ramp up to use 100% of CPU.

My previous XP VM was Pro, then replaced with Windows 7 Pro (a mistake as Windows 7 is a frigging RESOURCE HOG), and both never had any problem with updates - and both were built on this same machine.

Does anyone here have any tips for fixing this or a certain sequence of steps one needs to take while building an XP VM to avoid this common glitch from developing?

I am aware there are a LOT of sites out there with differing answers on how to fix this bug in XP and later editions of Windows.

I'm asking here to see if anyone would know which of those many fixes work best with virtual machines.

[a_p_]

Maybe not the solution you are looking for, but I tried to find a solution for this early this week and after trying many hints I ended up disabling the Automatic Updates service (Microsoft will stop providing update in April anyway, so the security aspect is not too important). I did this on a standalone system, i.e. not in a corporate/production network though.

André

[meterman70]

Yeah, Microsoft's plans to shut off support for XP in a few months factored heavily into my decision to purchase Windows 7 in the first place.

Too bad there is nothing even remotely like Microsoft Streets & Trips on the Mac side - that is the sole app for which I still require Windows.

If all else fails, I may just do what you suggest - shutting off the Automatic Updates service (and network - since I'd be passing files to / from the VM through a shared folder).

[meterman70]

Automatic Updates are working now.

I'm thinking it was likely some issues on M$' side as the VM I was having trouble building was finally able to retrieve updates with no further intervention on my part.

Because I want the VM running smoothly, I went and built a new VM and successfully retrieved 150+ post-SP3 updates.